Laura Lis Scott's offset thinking.

K is for Keyboard

Regular keyboards give me a pain — a pain in the wrist, specifically. It makes a huge difference when you’re typing a lot for emails, blog posts, proposals, articles … and novels.

I tried a number of keyboards.

The Kinesis Advantage is one of the most radical ergonomic keyboards out there. With scooped-out keyboard forms, it’s designed to conform to typical finger paths, not conventional keyboard grids. However, there’s a very steep learning curve. What put me off, though, were the rather long keystrokes. This issue can be addressed somewhat with some hacks, such as swapping key switches and adding rubber rings underneath each key to try to limit they keystroke distance, but this already is a very expensive keyboard (several hundred dollars) and having to take it apart key by key just to make it acceptable didn’t feel all that sensible, so I somewhat regretfully returned it.The Microsoft Sculpt keyboard is a lightweight and modern offering from the company that had the most popular ergonomic keyboard in the 1990s. It wasn’t bad, but the Option and Command keys are swapped in position, which would require new less-optimal keystroke habits. In the end, I sent it back primarily for this reason.The Goldtouch Go!2 keyboard does not have curves, but it does have a universal joint in the middle that allows you to angle they left and right halves of the keyboard, and even peak it in the middle, so you can find your own comfort position to avoid things like wrist pronation that can contribute to RSI. I like the quick-action scissor-switch keys, which are most like the keys on Apple keyboards, and don’t require a ton of motion in order to register a keystroke—very important when you don’t want to feel like you’re typing through mud. The keyboard has a switch for Mac and PC layouts. And it folds up, making it portable. Some people may dislike that it’s a USB keyboard, but I don’t mind—one less battery-driven device to worry about.

I bought the same trackball mouse for work and home which has helped. The ergonomic keyboards are still a bit awkward for me. I may still try one out if my other modifications aren’t enough to ease carpel tunnel. So far I’m OK.

I see you are easing back on the A to Z challenge. It’s tough; I only did it this year if I pre-posted for the month. Now with writing deadlines, I’m not so swamped. Here’s my A to Z Post on Memorable Characters

It takes about a day to get used to the angle of most of the ergo keyboards. The Kinesis Advantage is the exception, apparently taking several weeks. I just didn’t like it. For mouse, I use the Apple Magic Mouse. Years ago, I used trackballs and loved them, but now I’m out of the habit and like the touch surface of the mouse. I’m thinking I may give the trackpad another try.

Sorry I’m only getting to replying now. I was swamped, but now am starting to see some daylight and can start trying to catch up a bit….on my novel. No regrets on quitting A to Z. It was fun at first, but after a while it was getting in the way of my prioritized writing. Thanks for dropping by!